fizzlefish
Member
Good Morning everyone. I hope I am not breaking any rules by posting this here but a member of my local club(Baltimore Saltwater Fish Club) posted the following to our page and decided we needed to do something about it.
This is what Joe posted.
" was at Kennedy Krieger Institute yesterday doing a Fire inspection. I heard they had a salt water tank but had never seen it, so i asked the security guard if if could see it. Of course she obliged and actually had the care taker of the tank take me to it so I could see . They have a 1500 gallon acrylic tank with a 300 gallon sump built into the wall. The tank had only about 6-8 fish in it. There were approximately a half a dozen children staring at the tank, some with no hair some with walkers and some attached to IV poles. I was taken back a little by the amount of fish in the tank and asked him what he knew about fish keeping. his reply was that he had never owned a fish tank and knew nothing about them until he was tasked to take care of this one. He explained that all his knowledge came from research on the internet. I immediately asked him if he needed help with the tank and he just as fast accepted my offer. I asked him what his biggest challenges with the tank were and he said the temperature of the water. he explained that because of the size of the tank a chilling system would cost about $3500 and that the administration would not budget for the expense, so he sometimes has to put ice cubes in the sump to try and keep the temp down so the fish would survive. I also noticed the lighting was deficient. I know this is an extraordinary large system but i also know there are some extremely knowledgeable people in this group. If anyone has any ideas on cooling the tank please let me know. I have been in contact with a friend and co worker who is pretty good at fund raising to discuss the possibility of raising funds to purchase a chiller for the system and to restock the tank so the children can enjoy it as was intended. but something needs to be done in the interim. any help including live stock donations would be greatly appreciated. I personally think it is sad that Johns Hopkins/ Kennedy Krieger won't spend the money to provide a simple pleasure to the children that could most use it. But that is not the fight I choose to fight. Having had a child with cancer I know that it only takes a little to brighten an otherwise dismal day for these kids, so if anyone has any ideas or free time please let me know. I am sure Mr. Care taker ( Forgot his name already) will welcome others to help as well and i am certain he would like to hear of other options for cooling the tank and other tank maintenance tips. I certainly do not want to diminish his work, he has done a remarkable job keeping the tank with the resources he has to work with."
I suggested we try to gather the money ourselves to help. So I figured maybe other fish lovers would be willing to help as well. Thanks everyone.
This is what Joe posted.
" was at Kennedy Krieger Institute yesterday doing a Fire inspection. I heard they had a salt water tank but had never seen it, so i asked the security guard if if could see it. Of course she obliged and actually had the care taker of the tank take me to it so I could see . They have a 1500 gallon acrylic tank with a 300 gallon sump built into the wall. The tank had only about 6-8 fish in it. There were approximately a half a dozen children staring at the tank, some with no hair some with walkers and some attached to IV poles. I was taken back a little by the amount of fish in the tank and asked him what he knew about fish keeping. his reply was that he had never owned a fish tank and knew nothing about them until he was tasked to take care of this one. He explained that all his knowledge came from research on the internet. I immediately asked him if he needed help with the tank and he just as fast accepted my offer. I asked him what his biggest challenges with the tank were and he said the temperature of the water. he explained that because of the size of the tank a chilling system would cost about $3500 and that the administration would not budget for the expense, so he sometimes has to put ice cubes in the sump to try and keep the temp down so the fish would survive. I also noticed the lighting was deficient. I know this is an extraordinary large system but i also know there are some extremely knowledgeable people in this group. If anyone has any ideas on cooling the tank please let me know. I have been in contact with a friend and co worker who is pretty good at fund raising to discuss the possibility of raising funds to purchase a chiller for the system and to restock the tank so the children can enjoy it as was intended. but something needs to be done in the interim. any help including live stock donations would be greatly appreciated. I personally think it is sad that Johns Hopkins/ Kennedy Krieger won't spend the money to provide a simple pleasure to the children that could most use it. But that is not the fight I choose to fight. Having had a child with cancer I know that it only takes a little to brighten an otherwise dismal day for these kids, so if anyone has any ideas or free time please let me know. I am sure Mr. Care taker ( Forgot his name already) will welcome others to help as well and i am certain he would like to hear of other options for cooling the tank and other tank maintenance tips. I certainly do not want to diminish his work, he has done a remarkable job keeping the tank with the resources he has to work with."
I suggested we try to gather the money ourselves to help. So I figured maybe other fish lovers would be willing to help as well. Thanks everyone.
